Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – To meet the expectation that minority schoolchildren will do better when the teacher, as they say, “looks like them,” the Springfield Public School District is reviving the Minority Recruitment Advisory Council (MRAC).

The goals, said chairwoman Jeannette Goza, are targeted recruitment, maintaining a “Grow Your Own” pipelines, and retention and monitoring. “We are currently sitting at 6.6% Black teachers. We are nowhere near where we should be.

“By the 2029-30 school year, we currently have eighty teachers, and we need 240 to realize our goal,” said Goza.

The council was established in 2001.